The much discussed application by the Beauregards to
expand wine production and permitted events at their
winery and tasting room at 10 Pine Flat Road was filed
in May. However, as of this writing, the Santa Cruz
Planning Dept. has deemed the application incomplete and
so has not yet begun its review.

According to County Planner Samantha Haschert, who will
be shepherding the application through the permit
process, the department wanted more information on the
septic system plans, to determine if it is capable of
handling the load of 175 guests at the summer evening
Thursday events. Haschert said there are also several
inconsistencies in the application that need to be
cleared up. They gave the Beauregards 60 days, to Aug.
20, to resubmit the application

The Beauregards are asking for permission to allow a
maximum of 10 Thursday night community events per year
with up to 175 guests each; up to 6 evening events per
year with a maximum of 49 guests per event; to produce
up to 5,000 gallons of distilled spirits per year; to
increase wine production from 20,000 gallons to 45,000
gallons per year; to allow on-site sale of coffee and
pastries between the hours of 7 am - 11 am daily; and to
recognize the conversion of a portion of the permitted
winery to a 1,986 square foot residence.

The application says that the limited parking at the
winery itself will be supplemented by parking at the
nearby Vigné Farms equestrian center, also operated by
the Beauregards, who have a long-term option to buy the
property. Guests would be shuttled back and forth by van
to reduce pedestrian traffic at what can be a dangerous
intersection.

Other issues the planners will be focusing on, according
to Haschert, are the occupancy capacity of the small
tasting room, the movement of traffic, the noise and
other impacts on the neighborhood, and the impact on
Mill Creek, which borders the property and flows into
San Vicente Creek, the source of Davenport’s water.

Once the application is considered complete the Planning
Dept. has 30 days to make an initial review. The process
usually takes several months before all the issues are
resolved and a public hearing, in this case in front of
the Planning Commission, is scheduled.

The public will have many opportunities for input on the
proposal. The application can be read at the Planning
Dept., and letters can be submitted up until the time of
the Planning Commission hearing, at which oral comments
can be made.

City Must Re-Do EIR for UCSC Water Growth

As expected, the California Supreme Court declined to
overturn the California 6th District Court of Appeal
decision that the Environmental Impact Report prepared
for UCSC’s application to extend City water to its North
Campus is inadequate.

That means that it must be redone before LAFCO, the
Santa Cruz Local Agency Formation Commission, can resume
its consideration of the application. This will probably
take at least a few months, followed by a month or more
of public review and issuance of a final document.
The suit to overturn the EIR was brought by Habitat and
Water Caretakers (HAWC), a local citizens’ group headed
by Bonny Dooner Don Stevens, on the grounds that it
didn’t consider the environmental impact of alternatives
to supplying the water needed by UCSC’s massive
3-million square feet of new buildings and supporting
facilities on 240 acres of its North Campus, which is in
Bonny Doon.

LAFCO had been considering the application for more than
a year as the suit moved through the legal system. When
it finally resumes its deliberations, LAFCO will have
some different commissioners. Of particular concern to
us is that Neal Coonerty, the Board of Supervisors
chairman, has replaced Supervisor John Leopold on the
commission with Supervisor Zack Friend. Leopold, who now
becomes the alternate member, has championed compromises
that limit the impact of the huge development.

In the background looms the ongoing debate over the
City’s future water supply, which is greatly in question
as the proposal for a de-salination plant founders and
federal and state wildlife agencies press for more water
to restore the threatened and dwindling salmonid (Coho
and steelhead) populations in our streams, which are the
source of most of the City’s water. In light of that,
does it really make sense to commit another 100 to 150
million gallons of water a year to UCSC, whose expansion
ignores the County’s General Plan (legally, it is
entitled to do so because of a State Constitutional
Amendment) which seeks to keep urban development within
the City’s boundaries?

Heartland’s Plans for Airport

At the May 8 RBDA community meeting 3 members of the
Bonny Doon Heartland organization which has leased the
Bonny Doon airport land on Empire Grade (with the goal
of buying it in the coming years), spoke about their
activities and intentions.
Ann Freiwald, Stephen Weir and Ed Landau (who founded
the Bonny Doon Propane Coop) said the group’s plan is to
transform the 28-acre airport land into a place where
people can gather as a community and reconnect with
nature and the land. Anne explained that the name was
chosen because, “Our hearts and dreams are in it.”

The lessees are parents of children who attend Waldorf
School. One parent recently moved to Bonny Doon and
discovered that some of the airport land was for sale
(two other parcels within the metal fence had been sold
for development).

The group originally formed as an LLC, a Limited
Liability Corporation, and tried, with limited success,
to find additional investors to help buy the land. It is
now reorganizing as a non-profit. Ed Landau said the
group is trying to boost its funding through grants.
Anne said they plan to focus on farm education,
community gardens, and a children’s garden, with
meetings, classes and summer camps. It is currently
advertising a 4-day camp to help girls to “get you in
touch with your strong, compassionate and empowered
self!” Anne said they are not planning to advertise
events outside the county.

They told the meeting audience of 65 people that they
intend to work closely with County Planning to figure
out what activities may be conducted legally on the
land. “We’re very aware we’re in the middle of a
residential area,” Anne said.

Questions from the audience were mixed. Some welcomed
the organization and its planned activities while others
questioned why it was even needed since what it planned
to do was already being done on a smaller, household
level by many Bonny Dooners. Other concerns focused on
the importance of keeping the airport open as a landing
strip for aircraft in case of emergency or by special
request. In fact, they are legally required to do so.

Anne said that her group is very open to community input
and scrutiny, and invited people to their campfire
events to learn more about it. They also have a website,
bdheartland.com, which describes their plans, goals and
activities. For information, call 515-8473.

CEMEX Redwoods Update

The blueprint for the uses of the land currently called
the CEMEX Redwoods has been completed. And we, like many
in Bonny Doon, are highly interested in what this
“conservation plan” says about the future of the
8,532-acre property now in the hands of Sempervirens
Fund and the Peninsula Open Space Trust. Unfortunately,
our curiosity and interest will not be satisfied anytime
soon, because the document has not been made available.

At the May 8 RBDA meeting Brian Largay, Conservation
Director for the Land Trust of Santa Cruz County, talked
about the process for allowing and managing public
access to the land, which stretches from Davenport to
Empire Grade. The Land Trust participated in the
purchase and will be the holder, along with Save the
Redwoods League, of the conservation easement that
governs use of the property.

Largay said that public input will be sought over the
summer for what public uses should be allowed on the
mountainous property, and what possible problems are
foreseen. He opined that there will be separate trails
for hikers, bikers and equestrians, and perhaps
overnight camping, but no campfires permitted. He
expects the public use plan to be finished by the end of
2014. The Land Trust, he said, will be in charge of
managing public access. Once the Bureau of Land
Management acquires the adjacent Coast Dairies property,
trails connecting the two will be created.

The conservation plan divides the property into areas
considered ecologic reserves, those that need
restoration (CEMEX and previous owners have logged it
for years, and some parts need thinning to restore
forest health), and those that will be “sustainably”
logged to provide funds to manage the property, as well
as create local jobs. Big Creek Lumber is expected to
handle the work.

According to Largay, there will be no public or peer
scientific review of the conservation blueprint. It
makes us wonder, “Why do they need to be so secretive?”

Supervisor Coonerty Won’t Seek Re-election

Bonny Doon and the 3rd District will have only its 4th
supervisor in 40 years starting in 2015, as current
Supervisor Neal Coonerty announced recently he won’t
stand for re-election to a 3rd 4-year term.

However, chances are reasonably good that the new
supervisor will also be named Coonerty, as Neal’s son
Ryan, who has been a councilman and mayor of Santa Cruz,
is reportedly organizing support for a run of his own.
His dad also served as a Santa Cruz mayor and
councilman. So did Neal’s predecessor, Mardi Wormhoudt.
Also reportedly interested in jumping from the council
to the Board of Supervisors is Lynn Robinson, according
to the Santa Cruz Sentinel.

In his 6-plus years on the Board Neal has worked closely
with the RBDA on many issues, including most recently
the changes in the Large Dwelling Ordinance, but has had
key differences with us on the issue of UCSC expansion
into Bonny Doon. Nevertheless, he has made himself
available whenever we have an issue to discuss, attended
all our public meetings he was able to, and sent his
long-time assistant, Rachel Dann, when he couldn’t.

Ryan, who was mayor during the negotiations that led to
the Comprehensive Settlement Agreement which ended a
tangle of lawsuits over the expansion, has been a firm
supporter of the university’s growth, but pushed
successfully for UCSC to bear more of the infrastructure
costs that growth requires, and to limit its impact on
housing and traffic. Overall, his positions on issues
have been virtually identical to his father’s.

Coast Dairies’ BLM Transfer Entering Final Phase?

After winning a favorable ruling from California s 6th
District Court of Appeal, the RBDA Board and local
residents await the next step in the long-running Coast
Dairies land transfer process. What needs to happen is
for the owner of the more than 6,000-acre property,
Trust for Public Land (TPL) to make an application to
the County to subdivide the land so it can sell it to
different entities. The bulk of it is to go to the
federal Bureau of Land Management (BLM).

This will initiate a process that will allow citizens to
voice their concerns, such as demanding protection of
Davenport’s water supply, which is on Coast Dairies
property, and seek greater buffers from pesticide use on
adjacent farms that lease their fields from Coast
Dairies.

This local County process is what the RBDA has sought
all along as a prerequisite to the proposed land
transfer to BLM and others. One stumbling block in the
transfer is that BLM will not accept a portion of the
property near the cement plant that was used as an
industrial waste disposal site by CEMEX’s predecessors.
It has not been established whether or not toxic
materials are buried there. A process to allow transfer
of the site's ownership from Coast Dairies to CEMEX was
begun several years ago, but CEMEX has never been clear
about its willingness to accept ownership.

Legal proceedings are now back at the Superior Court in
Santa Cruz. A case management conference took place on
July 18.

Meanwhile, various reports indicated that TPL was
planning to transfer a portion of the property to BLM
this summer, apparently without going through the County
s public process for dividing the property, despite the
RBDA’s victory in the appellate court. When the RBDA s
attorney, Bill Parkin of the Wittwer & Parkin law
firm, asked TPL to agree not to make such an
unauthorized property transfer, TPL refused. That left
us no choice but to seek a temporary restraining order,
which TPL opposed. However, TPL eventually agreed to
stipulate that no transfer or division of the Coast
Dairies property could occur until the Superior Court
proceedings were completed. The final court hearing is
scheduled for October 18.

Hopefully, this signals the beginning of the final stage
of the rescue of this magnificent treasure of the
Central Coast, which surrounds Davenport and stretches
up the coastal benchlands to Bonny Doon. There are 6
creeks that run through it, and habitats ranging from
coastal chaparral to redwood forest. It was acquired by
TPL in 1998 and saved from proposed development of a
139-home subdivision, although it was highly suspected
that the developer only acquired the option to buy it
from the original Swiss owners in order to motivate
conservation organizations to step up their efforts to
preserve it and drive up the price.

In August 2006 TPL transferred ownership of 407 acres of
coastal bluffs and beaches seaward of Highway 1 to State
Parks. The public—hikers, equestrians and in particular,
mountain bikers—have been salivating to gain access to
the property for 15 years. For a detailed history of the
long-running saga, see the Sept./Oct. 2011 Highlander
online by
clicking here.

Merging Property Parcels Can Save Money, Preserve
Privacy

Though currently parcels in Bonny Doon cannot be divided
into sections smaller than 5 acres, many small parcels
(under 5 acres and typically 1 or 2) still exist, and
can, have been, and are being developed. These “mini”
parcels were created several decades ago to change Bonny
Doon from a rural into a more suburban locale. These
include Quail Drive, Country Estates, Braemoor, Sunlit,
Pineridge and others. Some were not fully developed but
the parcels still exist and are ready to be built on.

Along both Pine Flat Road and Empire Grade there are
open spaces consisting of multiple separate parcels. The
best example is the Bonny Doon airport, fully enclosed
with metal fencing along Empire Grade but in fact made
up of 3 parcels. The biggest parcel has the landing
strip, hangar and house, but there are also two smaller
pieces that were sold recently to owners who plan to
develop each one. That is the reason why there is now a
wooden fence and an RV (with separate access off Empire
Grade) downhill from the house.

Off Pine Flat, James’s Mountain Nursery has a metal
fence similar to that at the airport, enclosing 5 acres.
Until last year that property was comprised of 5
separate parcels, all of which could have been sold off
individually and developed. The reason that will now
never happen is because the parcels were merged into one
by the owner, with the intent to both preserve the open
space and reduce property taxes.

People who own multiple parcels can sell off the
undeveloped pieces, or if they are adjacent to their
house, combine them into one, thus reducing their
property taxes, and ensuring the prevention of future
development. Depending on the number of parcels, their
development potential and the reassessed value of the
combined land, dollar savings can be in the thousands.
One owner combined 6 parcels totaling 9 acres. They had
been part of an intended “neighborhood,” but only one
house was built.

Combining parcels is inexpensive and takes only about a
year to complete. Click
here for the form (pdf) to be filled out and sent
to the County Assessor’s Office, along with a check for
$36.00.

Shark's
Tooth Beach - photo by Ted Benhari

Support the RBDA by renewing your membership now: all
1-year memberships expired on January 31st.

Ideas
for RBDA Meeting Topics

We are always open to suggestions for interesting
programs and speakers at our bimonthly (except July)
RBDA public meetings.What are you interested in? Local flora and fauna,
gardening, environmental and political issues, Bonny
Doon history or geology, public safety?What were some of your favorite speakers or
presentations at past RBDA meetings?Were there any that you would like us to repeat?Please email us with your ideas and comments at board@rbda.us.

Bonny Doon's
voice in preserving our special quality of
life,
The Highlander is mailed free to Bonny Doon
residents prior to the
RBDA General Meetings, which are usually
held on second Wednesdays of
January, March, May, July, September and
November.
We encourage you to participate.

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mail correspondence to the Highlander Editor
at the above address,
or by email, below.